Portland Association Publication 1

Portland Flag Association “Free, and Worth Every Penny!” Issue 19 October 2008

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Flag Flying Days

Flag Flying Days 1 By John Hood At first I wanted the of the Many of you know that I collect states and countries I had visited. 2 Flag Related Websites 3’ x 5’ flags and fly two, plus the Mike Hale and his staff were very Next Meeting Announcement 3 current U.S. flag, from the front accommodating. From there I ex- of our house daily. At the last panded exponentially, acquiring the Flags in the News 3 meeting we started telling how we unusual flags from wherever I October 2008 Flutterings 4 got interested in flags, but quickly could—Ron Strachan in Australia, ran out of time. My interest ini- Doreen Braverman in Canada, Paul Book Reviews 5 tially began with geography, but in Hemple in and 6 The Flag Quiz San Francisco we lived on a busy James Babcock in Hampton Roads. street and had a second story The late Harry Oswald gave me

porch which lent itself perfectly some that I could not have gotten for flying flags. Almost eighteen anywhere else. years ago we moved to Portland and our house was even more Part two of this collection was appropriate for flying flags. It is a knowing when they should be corner lot, on a rise, on an even flown. Having been born a Catho- busier street. lic, it was vital to know when to

It seems like the less a (Continued on page 2) statesman amounts to, the more he loves the flag. If you wish to compliment the editor, or to contribute in the future, contact John Hood —Frank McKinney Hubbard at 503-238-7666 or [email protected]. If you wish to complain, call your mother. 2 Portland Flag Association Publication Flag Flying Days D.B. Cooper Day for Cascadia, miss prowling through the Central (Continued from page 1) Guy Fawkes Day for Library. To keep current, I rely on (although it is official in Ber- the scholarly publications from the genuflect, whether or not I knew muda), Senior Citizens’ Day for various vexillological associations I the words. Therefore I needed to Oklahoma. Some countries have belong to. find the occasions to fly these flags a lot of days to fly the flag Each year the list must be corrected that were accumulating. From the (Mexico has 24) and some have to update the occasions that have library (this was before the internet few (United Arab Emirates has moveable dates. This has caused was popular), I got the addresses of one). me to download lunar calendars, every country’s embassy or mission At NAVA28, held here in Port- Hebrew calendars and Islamic cal- in Washington, D.C. and wrote to land in 1994, Kevin Harrington of endars. It becomes a fun puzzle each, asking for their official flag- the Canadian Flag Association because in some cases the date de- flying days. Surprisingly, I received was kind enough to review my pends upon which side of the In- responses to about half of my let- first draft of “Occasions to Fly ternational Date Line is being refer- ters. A second letter got almost Flags” and offered me some ex- enced. half of those remaining. Some cellent suggestions that I have even put me on their mailing list used. Then Mike Hale wanted to Currently there are many sites with for newsletters. Others responded incorporate the list into his web flag flying days posted, including an in their native language, which site so that people browsing for excellent one at Flags of the World made for some interesting transla- flags could also see when they (FOTW). Occasionally I will cross tions; and one, Bahrain, said it was could be flown. check one of my dates with another not allowed for non-nationals to fly list, but usually I let it stand. After the flag without their government’s Sometimes people come to the all, it was just created for my own permission. door to acknowledge my flying amusement and use. their county’s flag on the occasion Realizing that half measures availed Some Flag Related Websites of independence, or to ask if this me nothing, I decided to collect the is a consulate. One man said he dates for every entity I could— NAVA http://www.nava.org had not seen the Maltese Flag country, region, province, state, since high school in , () county, city or municipality. Then I while the Manx family up the http://www.flaginstitute.org had to decide which dates to use street always insures that the for the “Flag Day.” That proved to Flags of the World http:// triskelion is flown on Tynwald www.fotw.net be daunting, so I became somewhat Day. arbitrary. After all, this was not an Elmer’s Flag & Banner http:// academic exercise, it was for fun! www.elmersflag.com Some flags, particularly in the Com- Darwin, Northern Territory monwealth, had multiple dates of (Australia) http:// adoption: date approved, date ga- www.nationalflags.com.au zetted, date adopted, etc. Then the occasions the flag should be flown Flag Society of Australia http:// came into question. Of course the To augment the dates I had, I www.flagsaustralia.com.au national days were there, as were poured over travel books, UPS Flag Research Center http:// the birthdays and death days of sig- calendars and the CIA Factbook. www.flagresearchcenter.com nificance, but I also added those Then the internet came along and non-official days that sometimes things got a lot easier, but I do Southern African Vexillological encapsulate the spirit of the region: Assoc. http://www.sa-va.org.za

Portland Flag Association Publication 3 January Meeting Flags in the News The next meeting of the Portland Mike Hale told us of the notice in must have some United States Flag Association will be at 7 p.m., The Oregonian of a contest to de- Flags in the background! Mar- Thursday, January 8, 2009, at John sign a new in honor of shall Goldberg brought this to my Hood’s house, 208 SE 39th Ave., our sesquicentennial. In the fol- attention some time ago and sus- telephone (503) 238-7666. See the lowing Sunday’s edition pected there was a Jungian an- map below. (10/19/08) of the paper was a swer. I don’t know about that, much longer article on the subject but I did start paying attention. We look forward to seeing those of with some history and quotes by The President usually only has you that have been otherwise com- Mike, Ted Kaye and Carita Culver one U.S. Flag and the Presidential mitted, and see some different of Ashland, a member of NAVA. Flag whereas the Secretary of the flags, and hear some provocative Then there were the TV stories Treasury had three U.S. Flags and discussion. There may be some with Mike showing and talking two Department of the Treasury results from the state flag contest. about the current two-sided flag. Flags. Why didn’t he use his per- Any and all flags, books or articles Information, rules and design tips sonal flag? I haven’t seen the are welcome for “show and tell.” can be found at http:// Secretary of Homeland Security www.oregonlive.com/oregon. with either his personal flag (if If you can’t get to the meeting, per- The contest ends November 21, there is one yet) or the depart- haps you can give the editor some- 2008. mental flag. The candidates, thing to share with our readers. As however, are keeping the flag you can see, snippets from any- Between the campaigning and the manufacturers in business. A few where can be used and it gives you economic melt-down, television months ago there were two or an opportunity to add to your cur- has been inundated with politi- three flags on stage, but recently I riculum vitae. cians and talking heads speaking saw nine behind Senator Obama very authoritatively from behind and at least seven behind Senator podiums. It seems to be that to McCain (but then he had a lapel speak really authoritatively, one pin, too). At least half a dozen were behind Senator Clinton and they all started falling down as she left the stage. Perhaps Mar- shall is right.

Remember, πάντα ρε ι = every- thing flows. — John Schilke 4 Portland Flag Association Publication October 2008 Flutterings You Need to Know We had a new member with us at sides. This makes for a very to date on what was in the other this meeting. He was Max Liber- heavy flag and would take a gale English speaking vexillological pub- man, a senior at Riverdale High force wind to fly properly. lications from around the world, School. Max happened to see Ted including the email messages from at a social function with a mug the Flag Research center. Flag- decorated with flags in his hand— master, from the Flag Institute in an instant ice breaker. Lets hope England had several great articles Max is not scared off by the eccen- on flags of the Channel Islands, tricity of our group. , Latvia and the navy of land-locked Kazakhstan. Many Ted Kaye presented a slide show of Comoros 1978-1992 thanks to the editor, Michael Faul. NAVA 42 in Austin, TX that he Crux Australis, from The Flag attended the week before. It was Society of Australia had some great obvious that a lot of vexiloquacity pictures of the World Youth Day was heard. It seems those Texans pageant showing more flags from take their historic flags very seri- more places than I have ever seen, ously. Carita Culver of Ashland with as many as three on a hand gave a talk on the history of the held pole. SAVA Newsletter, Oregon Flag. I hope it will be re- from Bruce Berry in South Africa printed in a future issue of Raven. had a scholarly article on the police Comoros 1996-2001 Speaking of which, Ted says the flags of Central Africa. There is no next issue is at the printer now and end to the esoteric interests of vex- should be in our hands in the near illologists. future. He also passed around two Scott Mainwaring is developing a new books he acquired; A Grand website that would let one create John Schilke was unable to attend, Old Flag, by Kevin and Peter their own flag using the Interna- being on a classical music tour of Keim, and The Star Spangled tional Maritime Signal Flags. He Europe. However, he did forward Banner: The making of an introduced the idea to us in the an interesting topic for discussion: American Icon, by Taylor, Ken- last meeting; now he’s making it The National Museum of Language drick and Brodie. Both of these happen. While he was in Hawaii in Baltimore, MD is sponsoring a books are reviewed elsewhere in recently, Scott saw strong evi- contest to design the world’s first this newsletter. dence of the movement to give language flag, the International Flag up statehood and, among the of Language. It is meant as a con- Mike Hale showed us the first arti- symbols, were what would tribution to commemorate cle on the flag contest, since he and amount to be vexilliods with UNESCO’s International Year of Ted are going to be among the feathers instead of cloth or metal. Languages. Experts from language judges. More is said under “Flags He also said that “Freak Flags” and have been selected in the News.” The other day Mike are now available for Face Book. to administer the contest. The con- realized that he didn’t have the cur- Many groups and organizations test rules are posted at rent Comoros Flag in stock, but are using flags of every conceiv- http://languagemuseum.org/flag. rather an old version and an older able configuration these days, The contest runs through Novem- version. The 1996-2001 flag is ac- with little regard to history or ber 28, 2008, and the winner will be tually two flags sewn together so Good Flag, Bad Flag! announced in February, 2009. the writing is correct from both John Hood brought the group up

Portland Flag Association Publication 5 Book Reviews ritory at 40 degrees rather than the correct 49.

The book is a visual and vexil- lological delight, with excellent production values. Among the gems: a rare 19-star printed pa- rade flag and a 33-star flag flown by Union troops at the Battle of Bull Run in 1861. The book is The Star Spangled Banner: The particularly strong in its explana- Making of an American Icon Lonn tion of textile technology, history, Taylor, Kathleen M. Kendrick and A Grand Old Flag: A History of and terminology, and of their ap- Jeffrey L. Brodie Smithsonian Insti- the United States through its plication to flags. tution (2008), 182 pages, $21.86 on Amazon.com Flags The outsized book includes a Kevin Keim & Peter Keim separate poster, with an innova- I bought this book to help with the Dorling Kindersley Ltd. (2007), tive “ Timeline of the Stars and talks I have been giving to DAR chap- 192 pages, $19.80 on Amazon.com Stripes”; a 64-inch fold-out show- ters about flags of the Revolutionary War, ending with The Star Spangled Dr. Peter Keim and his architect ing the years 1755-1975 with presidents, wars and conflicts; Banner. However, I found that it went son, Kevin, have amassed over 30 well beyond what I could use. years of what they call “one of the states’ admission dates and maps; richest and most comprehensive key events in national, flag and The Star Spangled Banner provides collections of antique Stars and textile history; along with a nice an overwhelming number of topics that have evolved into a mythology Stripes held by one family.” A little “Star -Spangled Banner His- surrounding the flag and the anthem. Grand Old Flag uses over 100 of tory” and, on the back, 16 more flag images. The book gives a reasonably balanced their flags to weave a deeply mean- story of the making of the flag by Mary ingful interpretation of the history More than another pretty “picture Pickersgill, the symbolism at Fort of the U.S. flag. The lavishly- book” on the U.S. flag, A Grand McHenry, the rare displays over the illustrated volume in the full Dor- Old Flag is a loving but discern- next ninety years, and the creation of ling Kindersley style has active, col- ing tribute to the Stars and an icon by the Smithsonian. The book orful images on every page bursting Stripes, and a beautiful and im- does not make grand pronouncements but rather leaves many conclusions to from the glossy white background. portant addition to the libraries of the reader. Was the smaller storm flag Nathan brings an architect’s eye to flag enthusiasts.—Ted Kaye flag design and construction, a wel- flying during the battle and the larger (thirty by forty-two feet) garrison flag come and unusual perspective. only hoisted later in triumph? Is the Due to the book’s broad scope, it damage to the flag due to the war, in- can be forgiven its propagation of a sects or souvenir hunters? How was few flag myths—such as the mis- the poem actually set to music? To- ward the end of the book, the Smith- identification of the designer of the sonian waxes a bit heavy on its own Confederate Stars and Bars as Mrs. marketing, but that is trite considering Napoleon Lockett, and for com- the quality in general—the artwork, mitting other minor historical er- illustrations and history. This is a rors—it places the 1846 compro- treasure for anyone curious about this mise boundary of the Oregon Ter- American icon.—John Hood 6 Portland Flag Association Publication What Was that Flag? Answers to the last quiz What’s that Flag? These flags do not represent coun- Last time we had flags without bor- tries, but rather cultures. Here are ders. This time we have regional people whose homelands transcend flags with vague borders. geographical boundaries.

Roma/Rom/Rrom/Gypsy

The people usually referred to as Gypsies call themselves “The Basque Country/Euskadi/Iparralde Roma”. While generally in South- ern and Eastern Europe, Roma The Basque Country covers four are found in most countries. regions in Spain and three in They originally came from India France. The red is from the flag of beginning about 1000 A.D. where it all started. The St. “Gypsy” may have come from Andrew’s cross is for independence Europeans thinking they were in a historic battle on St. Andrew’s Egyptians. The blue in the flag is Day. The green for the oak tree on for the heavens, the green is for the Biscay coat-of-arms, as well as the earth and the chakra is for the white cross. their Indian origin.

Mavrolachians/Morlaci/Black Vlachs Sami/Saami/Sámi

Originally these were probably The Sami, or Laplanders, are Illyrians who eventually became mostly in Northern Norway, but Christian peasants living in the inte- they do inhabit Northern Sweden, rior of Dalmatia (Slovenia, Croatia, Finland and Russia. Known for Bosnia, ). They are their herds of reindeer, the Sami known for their dark complexions, have recently become more politi- but their language counter indicates cally active because of threats by any North African heritage, as was progress to their way of life. The first thought. The flag is from Flags symbolism of the flag is vague but of Aspirant Peoples with no informa- it could be based on the colors of tion on its symbolism, although the the traditional dress with the cir- crescent and star would indicate a cle representing unity (such as it Turkish (Ottoman) influence. is).